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MyReporter - 1840 home associated with Pender's early history

The Dr. Elisha Porter Plantation House was built around 1840 and sits on a 13.5-acre tract of land. Photo courtesy of the Pender County Public Library

Published: Tuesday, August 6, 2013 at 2:00 p.m.

Last Modified: Tuesday, August 6, 2013 at 2:07 p.m.

Q. I lived in the Rocky Point area a good portion of my life. There is a tract of land and an old home located at the end of Porters Lane, off U.S. 117. The road is private access and is long, lined with majestic magnolia trees. What is the history of this property? I have always heard it was a large plantation. Who now owns the property?

A. The property at 1048 Porters Lane Road in Rocky Point, which you are referring to, includes the Dr. Elisha Porter Plantation House, also known as Porter's Plantation.

According to researcher Elizabeth MacChainnigh's extensive research, dated 2006 and held by the Pender County Library in Burgaw, the Dr. Elisha Porter Plantation House reflects the Greek Revival and Italianate styles of architecture common in the antebellum South. It's a significant property because of the surviving structures and its association with the founding of Pender County in 1875.

The circa 1840 two-story plantation home sits on a 13.5-acre tract of land and was purchased at a public auction in New Hanover County in August 1868 by prominent physician and entrepreneur Dr. Elisha Porter, who was born in 1832 and died in 1906.

The Porter home and property consists of one of the few intact plantation houses with historic kitchen and slave quarters, post-and-beam barn and Porter's doctor's office, MacChainnigh's research indicated. A smokehouse and weaving/infirmary house are among other surviving structures on the property. Dr. Porter's medical office building dates from the 1870s.

According to information about the Porter plantation from Pender County Library's Heritage Collection, Dr. Elisha Porter, who served under Confederate Major General William Dorsey Pender during the Civil War, was instrumental in the establishment of Pender County as a separate entity from New Hanover County and recommended the name of the new county to the state legislature.

Porter was also involved in innovative and enterprising agricultural production in the post-Civil War economy.

Pender Library Director Mike Taylor said Dr. Porter's son, E. Pender Porter, who was born in 1875 and died in 1943, also became a physician and retained the plantation. Pender Porter was very interested in the Rocky Point community and donated generously to the Pender County Training School, a Rosenwald-funded school for African-American students.

Today, the home is privately owned and not open to the public, but current owner, Kathleen Kowal, an attorney who bought the property about seven years ago, says the old historical structures remain intact.

Kowal says she uses the property as a horse farm for rescued horses that others do not want and currently shares the property with six aging rescued horses. Kowal said she was attracted to the property, more than to the historic house itself. "I was looking for a place to keep the horses, and it was the land (that attracted me). The drive is lined with magnolia trees and there's a forest that's just full of magnolia trees and crepe myrtles everywhere," Kowal said. "The property is so beautiful. It's so timeless, when people come here they feel like it's kind of enchanted because of the timelessness of it."

Photographs of the house and grounds may be viewed online in the Pender County Public Library Digital Archive.

<p><b>Q. I lived in the Rocky Point area a good portion of my life. There is a tract of land and an old home located at the end of Porters Lane, off U.S. 117. The road is private access and is long, lined with majestic magnolia trees. What is the history of this property? I have always heard it was a large plantation. Who now owns the property?</p><p>A.</b> The property at 1048 Porters Lane Road in Rocky Point, which you are referring to, includes the Dr. Elisha Porter Plantation House, also known as Porter's Plantation.</p><p>According to researcher Elizabeth MacChainnigh's extensive research, dated 2006 and held by the Pender County Library in Burgaw, the Dr. Elisha Porter Plantation House reflects the Greek Revival and Italianate styles of architecture common in the antebellum South. It's a significant property because of the surviving structures and its association with the founding of Pender County in 1875.</p><p>The circa 1840 two-story plantation home sits on a 13.5-acre tract of land and was purchased at a public auction in New Hanover County in August 1868 by prominent physician and entrepreneur Dr. Elisha Porter, who was born in 1832 and died in 1906.</p><p>The Porter home and property consists of one of the few intact plantation houses with historic kitchen and slave quarters, post-and-beam barn and Porter's doctor's office, MacChainnigh's research indicated. A smokehouse and weaving/infirmary house are among other surviving structures on the property. Dr. Porter's medical office building dates from the 1870s.</p><p>According to information about the Porter plantation from Pender County Library's Heritage Collection, Dr. Elisha Porter, who served under Confederate Major General William Dorsey Pender during the <a href="http://www.starnewsonline.com/section/TOPIC9951"><b>Civil War</b></a>, was instrumental in the establishment of Pender County as a separate entity from New Hanover County and recommended the name of the new county to the state legislature.</p><p>Porter was also involved in innovative and enterprising agricultural production in the post-Civil War economy.</p><p>Pender Library Director Mike Taylor said Dr. Porter's son, E. Pender Porter, who was born in 1875 and died in 1943, also became a physician and retained the plantation. Pender Porter was very interested in the Rocky Point community and donated generously to the Pender County Training School, a Rosenwald-funded school for African-American students.</p><p>Today, the home is privately owned and not open to the public, but current owner, Kathleen Kowal, an attorney who bought the property about seven years ago, says the old historical structures remain intact.</p><p>Kowal says she uses the property as a horse farm for rescued horses that others do not want and currently shares the property with six aging rescued horses. Kowal said she was attracted to the property, more than to the historic house itself. "I was looking for a place to keep the horses, and it was the land (that attracted me). The drive is lined with magnolia trees and there's a forest that's just full of magnolia trees and crepe myrtles everywhere," Kowal said. "The property is so beautiful. It's so timeless, when people come here they feel like it's kind of enchanted because of the timelessness of it."</p><p>Photographs of the house and grounds may be viewed online in the Pender County Public Library Digital Archive.</p>